Electro-enhanced hollow fiber membrane liquid phase microextraction of Cr(VI) oxoanions in drinking water samples

•HF-LPME of Cr(VI) oxoanions with the application of an electric field.•Transportation of Cr(VI) oxoanions via ion-exchange under an electric field.•Effect of ionic content (sample conductivity) on the occurrence of electrolysis.•Electro-enhanced HF-LPME for Cr(VI) oxoanion in drinking water samples.

Hollow fiber membrane liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) of metal oxoanions was studied using an ionic carrier enhanced by the application of an electric field (electro-enhanced HF-LPME). The Cr(VI) oxoanion was used as the model. The transportation of Cr(VI) oxoanions across the supported liquid membrane (SLM) was explored via the ion-exchange process and electrokinetic migration. The type of SLM, type of acceptor solution, extraction time, electric potential, and stirring rate were investigated and optimized using MilliQ water. Electro-enhanced HF-LPME provided a much higher enrichment factor compared to conventional HF-LPME (no electric potential) for the same extraction time. A mixture of an anion exchange carrier (methyltrialkyl-ammonium chloride, Aliquat 336) in the SLM facilitated the transportation of Cr(VI) oxoanions. The SLM that gave the best performance was 1-heptanol mixed with 5% Aliquat 336 with 1 M NaOH as the acceptor. Linearity was obtained in the working range of 3–15 µg L−1 Cr(VI) (R2>0.99) at 30 V with a 5 min extraction time. The limit of detection was below 5 µg L−1. The relative standard deviation was less than 12%. The method was applied to drinking water samples. The recoveries of spiked Cr(VI) in drinking water samples were in the range of 96–101% based on the matrix-matched calibration curves. The method was limited to samples containing low levels of ions due to the occurrence of electrolysis. The type of SLM, particularly regarding its resistance, should be tuned to control this problematic phenomenon.

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